Friday, June 6, 2014

Game of the Day (6/5/14)

Brewers 8, Twins 5. Willy Peralta has started out nicely for Milwaukee, posting a 3.03 ERA that's at least partly backed up by his peripheral statistics. It's also less than half of the ERA of the opposing pitcher in this game; Minnesota's Kevin Correia is sitting at 6.11.

Naturally, it was Correia who was perfect for the first two innings, while Peralta had to work around a Danny Santana single and a Josh Willingham walk in the first. Milwaukee put a pair of runners on in the third as Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay singled, but Jean Segura ended the inning with a double play ball.

Peralta supplied two quick outs in the bottom of the third, but then walked Brian Dozier, allowed a hit to Joe Mauer, walked Willingham again, and served up a grand slam to Oswaldo Arcia. The Brewers replied in the top of the fourth with singles by Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy and a Carlos Gomez homer, cutting the deficit to a run. Peralta was perfect in the bottom of the fourth. Both starters ran into trouble in the fifth, as Correia worked around hits by Overbay and Braun while Peralta allowed singles to Santana and Dozier before escaping when Willingham flied out and Dozier was thrown out trying for second.

Milwaukee struck again in the sixth, as Aramis Ramirez singled and Khris Davis hit a go-ahead 2-run homer. Correia was pulled at that point, and Caleb Thielbar managed a pair of outs around Mark Reynolds reaching on an error and stealing second. Anthony Swarzak took Thielbar's place and allowed an RBI single to Segura; Segura also stole second before Braun grounded out to end the inning.

Rob Wooten relieved Peralta in the bottom of the sixth and allowed a pair of doubles; unfortunately for the Twins, Arcia was caught stealing third after his double and before Trevor Plouffe's, so no scoring resulted. Swarzak retired the Brewers in order in the seventh, while Brandon Kintzler gave up a leadoff double to Eduardo Escobar and allowed him as far as third before stranding him there.

Swarzak was perfect again in the eighth, and the Twins had an excellent chance in the bottom of the inning. Willingham greeted Wil Smith with a walk, and Plouffe was hit by a pitch one out later. With two outs, Josmil Pinto doubled, scoring Willingham and putting the tying run at third - but Escobar flied out to end the inning. Milwaukee added a pair of insurance runs against Jared Burton in the ninth when Braun doubled and Lucroy homered, and Francisco Rodriguez retired the Twins in order in the bottom of the inning to wrap up the game.

The Brewers did not draw a single walk in this game. On the other hand, they did have 13 hits, including 3 home runs, and those are good things too.

Scheduling note: I will be out of town for the weekend (and attending tomorrow's Rangers-Indians game). The 1984 Games of the Days are pre-written and scheduled for posting, but 2014 will have to wait until my return, as it is difficult to write advance recaps of games that have not yet been played.